Like Coming Home
by Dragon6125
Summary: Part of my Virtual Reality/Modern AU. Main Fic: Playing with Dragons. Contains major spoilers for Chapter 15, so read at your own risk. Luffy finally gets the opportunity to return to the world of One Piece thanks to a generous gift.


**Like Coming Home**

No one had questioned it when Luffy announced that he'd wanted another headset. Of course they wouldn't, they didn't know about what was going on. Luffy didn't know all of the specifics like Sabo did, but he'd listened really hard to what Sabo had told him at the hospital and remembered the important bits. Celestial was killing people and trapping their minds within the game of One Piece to use as Artificial Intelligence, Sabo had been investigating them and uncovering the truth, Celestial had attacked him to keep him quiet. That was the fire. That fire is why Luffy and Sabo were in the hospital, it was also why Ace was gone now. He'd died saving their lives. You'd think that someone would never want to touch something like Celestial's Dragon headset or the game of One Piece with a ten-foot pole ever again after all that had happened. Luffy was different, though. His best friends were in One Piece. He was the captain of a crew. Some of the best months of his life had been spent within One Piece and adventuring with his pirate crew and taking on other crews in battle. He wasn't about to give that all up… he couldn't give it all up. He was having fun, and, besides, Sabo had entrusted him with an important job. He didn't have the time or the capacity to let himself be afraid of entering the World of One Piece again. He wasn't going to let Celestial stop him from enjoying what he loved while it lasted. Sabo had said that once everything came to light, it might all disappear, so he was going to enjoy it while he could. He wasn't about to abandon his crew, either, especially not when one of them was an AI himself. Brook didn't have a choice in this situation. Brook couldn't just leave like everyone else. He was stuck. Luffy wasn't going to leave him alone. Not again. One Piece was everything Luffy wanted and he was not about to give that up yet.

There was a knock on the door, pulling Luffy's attention away from his 3DS. He shoved another handful of chips into his mouth and closed the device, setting it aside as he rolled off the bed and trekked towards the front door. He absently wondered who had came to visit while he crunched on his mouthful of chips. It was a Saturday and Jimbei was at work today, which meant he had the house to himself. The last time someone had knocked on the door, Sabo was taken away. The knocks started again and Luffy yanked open the door to find a Pineapple. Well. Not an _actual_ Pineapple. Just the pineapple man. "Oh, hi, Pineapple Turkey!" Luffy greeted, finally swallowing his mouthful of chips and then grinning at him.

"Hey, Luffy." Marco smiled, but there was a painful twinge to it that Luffy would have had to be blind to miss. Ace had called Marco those things and that's where Luffy had gotten the nicknames in the first place, so it probably brought back memories. Memories of Ace. Luffy's eyes looked beyond Marco to see that Pops was there, too, and the guy with the hair that stuck forward. What was his name again?

"It's good to see you looking like you're doing well, squirt." Big hair smiled. Thatch! like the pirate. Blackbeard. Gotta meet him in the game. Why were the Whitebeards here? He wondered.

"Yeah! I'm doing a lot better now. Still can't go very far without getting winded, but it's better! I miss my brothers a lot and my friends, too, and I get pretty lonely here sometimes, but that's fine." Luffy shrugged off and moved on, "Jimbei's not here right now, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind you coming in." Luffy greeted, stepping aside so that they could come inside if they wanted to.

"We just dropped by to give you something, actually. You said you'd wanted a new headset, right?" Marco asked. He'd looked a little concerned for a moment there but now he was smiling, which was good. Smiling was good.

"Yeah!" Luffy grinned, looked excitedly from person to person. Did they bring one? Is that why they were here? _Sweet_.

Pops held up the box in his hands that Luffy had only just now noticed and said "I've decided to retire from the game, so I figured I might let you have my own headset. You'll get more use out of it than I will anymore, kid."

Luffy's jaw dropped "You're retiring? But why?! And you're giving your headset to _me_?!"

"After everything that's happened… the war and the issue at the memorial and everything else... I just don't have it in me anymore. I've decided it's time to set it all aside to make way for all the runts like you," Whitebeard-pops laughed. "So here, take it. I want you to have it."

"I don't get it, but I'm not going to argue because that means I have a headset again." Luffy accepted, taking the box from the old man, excited to get started.

"Our resident blue turkey here is going to be taking over the Whitebeard pirates in his place." Thatch nudged Marco with his elbow as he said it and smirking as Marco grew annoyed.

"But Pineapple Cobbler doesn't have a white beard." Luffy pointed out, glad to see Marco's eyebrow twitching rather than that pained expression from earlier again. "You're going to have to grow a beard and then rename the crew the Yellowbeard pirates!" Luffy laughed, paused to imagine Marco with a beard, and then shaking his head with a grimace "Never mind. Don't grow a beard. A beard doesn't suit you, TurPine."

"I have a _name_." Marco reminded him with a growl.

"Yeah, but that's boring! Anyway, I really want to play One Piece right now so can someone please help me set this up. Sabo did it for me and I don't know how to do it myself." Luffy rocked back on his heels and forward again, biting his lower lip, eyes alight with energy.

"I'll help you out, Kiddo." Thatch agreed, stepping around Marco to come inside.

"My room is this way." Luffy cheered, bounding back down the hallway to his room, looking back to make sure Thatch was following and seeing that Marco and Whitebeard Pops had come inside as well.

It didn't take Thatch very long to get everything hooked up (but it felt like forever. Luffy was too impatient) and when he was done, the three of them left with an invite for Luffy and Jimbei to come over for dinner the next weekend. They were celebrating Marco's birthday, apparently, and Luffy wondered how old the pineapple was. They promised food, so they should definitely go. One mention of free food and nothing could keep him away.

Once the three of them were gone, Luffy shut the door behind them and bounded back to his room, throwing himself down onto the covers. His breathing became a little bit heavier thanks to the effort put into those actions, but he was too excited to be frustrated by it right now.

Luffy pulled his phone out of his pocket and messaged the group chat in all caps, informing them that he'd gotten another headset and that if anyone was free they'd better get their asses online that instant. It had been so long since Luffy had last played One Piece. What was it… late September now? Almost October? Which meant that it had been almost _two months_. That was _way_ too long. He was probably super far behind now which meant he had a lot of catching up to do. He wondered how many events he'd missed since Thriller Bark and if Robin was getting along well with the rest of the crew or not. She was probably fitting in fine, but he wanted to be sure. He'd find out soon enough, though.

Luffy pulled on the headset he'd been gifted and got himself nice and comfy on his bed before calling out "Set Sail!" the tech humming to life at the command.

The hum from the console began to fade and a blanket of silence and emptiness wrapped him up like a burrito. A login screen appeared out of the darkness and a simple thought filled in the blanks. The window disappeared and the familiar smell of sea-salt air filled his lungs. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed that smell until he smelled it. It smelled like coming home.

Deep breathe in. Luffy didn't feel that ache in his chest that he'd felt since the fire any time he strained his lungs. Deep breathe out. He opened his eyes and was dazzled by the familiar sight of the vibrant green grass spread across the deck of the Thousand Sunny.

"Sunny!" Luffy cheered, diving down onto the grass and rolling about with a laugh. "Ahh, I've missed you." He sighed, settling on his stomach, arms outstretched as if to hug the deck.

"Luffy!" Chopper's gleeful cheer came from his left, followed immediately by a body slamming into his back and snuggling in close for a hug. "Welcome back!"

"S'good to be back" Luffy grinned.


End file.
